In Spirit and in Truth
Posted: Tue Nov 30, 2010 11:59 amHello All!
Blessings!
Hope this day finds you all happy!
Biblical thematics, the study of the major and minor themes of the Bible belongs to us all. We do not have to walk in darkness. We do not have to sit idly in Sunday school gleaning, as it were, stubble to make bricks with. We do not have to rely entirely upon those supposedly great philosophers and theologians that went before us to be our instructors in the Word of God, nor do we have to rely upon ministers that discuss only such things that uplift the knowledge of man, while treading down the knowledge, themes of the Bible, that are of God. One such theme downplayed by many that are lifted up in the knowledge of their own mind is that of spirit and truth, in spirt and in truth being our way to gain knowledge of our Heavenly Father to touch Him and be touched by Him.
One such heresy we have discussed before is higher criticism. Higher criticism is a man made systematic historical method of viewing Holy Writ as nothing more than men of old writing sensational things in order to make a buck. These heretics have been and are the wolves that lead both themselves and their followers into a ditch. Is there such a theme as higher criticism in the Bible? Of course not!
For in not believing or understanding the Words of our Lord and His servants the Apostles, they wrestle with scripture to their own destruction. Such is not the will of God for anyone. The will of God is that we all come to the knowledge of the truth. But if we cannot understand the truth of God through our own human understanding through many agonizing years of study, then how is it possible to understand the truth of God at all? Can one touch God and gain knowledge of Him by merely believing in Him? Such is what our New Testament teaches us.
One would think God quite the trickster if He, being Spirit, left us to touch His wisdom through the mind of our flesh! How silly! What a waste of years of writings to bring us to Him, to leave us in the corrupt state of the flesh He has given His own Son to bring us out of! No, such is not the case. Our Lord is not a trickster, but we lack understanding and wisdom if we search for Him through the mind of our flesh. That which is flesh is flesh, and that which is spirit is spirit. Those that are of the flesh mind the things that are of the flesh, and those that are of the Spirit mind the things that are of the spirit. God is a Spirit, and must be worshipped in spirit and in truth!
Since God is Spirit, He may only be found and understood through the mind that is of His Spirit. What could be simpler? God has laid out a straight path in a theme describing His personage and how it is we must come to Him. We must come to Him in spirit and in truth.
Now for scholars this is difficult to fathom, for since the remnant of Christianity was swallowed up in Catholicism such things as life in the spirit have been relegated to our rearview mirror as a mysticism and Gnosticism that has long been a defunct and dysfunctional means of achieving union with God. Ok, fine. So why have the mystic and Gnostic writings of Peter, Paul, James, and John been kept in the Bible? Have they been kept to show us how things were so we can pine away after longing to have lived back then instead of now? Or have they been kept to show us the way we should be living now? If we have been born of the Spirit, should we not also live in the spirit?
How did Jesus live? Was His life of the Spirit and Truth? Or was His life after the flesh? Is He or isn't He the Way, the Truth, and the Life? And if He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, then wasn't His Way, Spirit, His Truth, Spirit, and His life, Spirit? And wasn't that Spirit that made Him our way, truth, and life, His Father?
If the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is Spirit, and He desires to be worshipped in spirit and in truth, wouldn't it be logical for him to provide a way for us to worship Him in spirit and in truth? Who was sent to us on the Day of Pentecost 50 days after our Lord's ascension? Was such flesh or Spirit?
If flesh, then where is the theme of the flesh found in the New Testament that would give us life? Such cannot be found, for if we live in the mind of the flesh we will die. But if Spirit, then how shall we touch our Lord and God any other way? Let us examine the theme in the Bible of God as Spirit, and how it is we must become of His Spirit in order that we might know Him and worship Him in spirit and in truth.
Blessings!
Love, In Christ Jesus, Saint701.
Blessings!
Hope this day finds you all happy!
Biblical thematics, the study of the major and minor themes of the Bible belongs to us all. We do not have to walk in darkness. We do not have to sit idly in Sunday school gleaning, as it were, stubble to make bricks with. We do not have to rely entirely upon those supposedly great philosophers and theologians that went before us to be our instructors in the Word of God, nor do we have to rely upon ministers that discuss only such things that uplift the knowledge of man, while treading down the knowledge, themes of the Bible, that are of God. One such theme downplayed by many that are lifted up in the knowledge of their own mind is that of spirit and truth, in spirt and in truth being our way to gain knowledge of our Heavenly Father to touch Him and be touched by Him.
One such heresy we have discussed before is higher criticism. Higher criticism is a man made systematic historical method of viewing Holy Writ as nothing more than men of old writing sensational things in order to make a buck. These heretics have been and are the wolves that lead both themselves and their followers into a ditch. Is there such a theme as higher criticism in the Bible? Of course not!
For in not believing or understanding the Words of our Lord and His servants the Apostles, they wrestle with scripture to their own destruction. Such is not the will of God for anyone. The will of God is that we all come to the knowledge of the truth. But if we cannot understand the truth of God through our own human understanding through many agonizing years of study, then how is it possible to understand the truth of God at all? Can one touch God and gain knowledge of Him by merely believing in Him? Such is what our New Testament teaches us.
One would think God quite the trickster if He, being Spirit, left us to touch His wisdom through the mind of our flesh! How silly! What a waste of years of writings to bring us to Him, to leave us in the corrupt state of the flesh He has given His own Son to bring us out of! No, such is not the case. Our Lord is not a trickster, but we lack understanding and wisdom if we search for Him through the mind of our flesh. That which is flesh is flesh, and that which is spirit is spirit. Those that are of the flesh mind the things that are of the flesh, and those that are of the Spirit mind the things that are of the spirit. God is a Spirit, and must be worshipped in spirit and in truth!
Since God is Spirit, He may only be found and understood through the mind that is of His Spirit. What could be simpler? God has laid out a straight path in a theme describing His personage and how it is we must come to Him. We must come to Him in spirit and in truth.
Now for scholars this is difficult to fathom, for since the remnant of Christianity was swallowed up in Catholicism such things as life in the spirit have been relegated to our rearview mirror as a mysticism and Gnosticism that has long been a defunct and dysfunctional means of achieving union with God. Ok, fine. So why have the mystic and Gnostic writings of Peter, Paul, James, and John been kept in the Bible? Have they been kept to show us how things were so we can pine away after longing to have lived back then instead of now? Or have they been kept to show us the way we should be living now? If we have been born of the Spirit, should we not also live in the spirit?
How did Jesus live? Was His life of the Spirit and Truth? Or was His life after the flesh? Is He or isn't He the Way, the Truth, and the Life? And if He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, then wasn't His Way, Spirit, His Truth, Spirit, and His life, Spirit? And wasn't that Spirit that made Him our way, truth, and life, His Father?
If the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is Spirit, and He desires to be worshipped in spirit and in truth, wouldn't it be logical for him to provide a way for us to worship Him in spirit and in truth? Who was sent to us on the Day of Pentecost 50 days after our Lord's ascension? Was such flesh or Spirit?
If flesh, then where is the theme of the flesh found in the New Testament that would give us life? Such cannot be found, for if we live in the mind of the flesh we will die. But if Spirit, then how shall we touch our Lord and God any other way? Let us examine the theme in the Bible of God as Spirit, and how it is we must become of His Spirit in order that we might know Him and worship Him in spirit and in truth.
Blessings!
Love, In Christ Jesus, Saint701.